Mock Exams

Dancer

Hi,

As most of you probably know I am currently in year 10 so I thankfully don't have to do my exams until next year although I have heard a lot of stuff about mocks. What exactly are the mock exams, how significant are they and would they also be for coursework based subjects such as Health and Social Care and Photography or are they just for certain subjects? Are mock exams external (sent to the exam board) or internal (marked by the school?)

natalie_b

Mocks are practise exams that allow you to see how much of the exam content you know really well and what things you need to learn. They are usually not worth anything towards your final qualification (GSCE in your case @Dancer). However they may be used to give you a target grade, or even as the final grade in extenuating circumstances, for example if you cannot sit the exam.

Usually you won’t have a sit down mock exam for a subject unless there will be a final exam. However they may do a mock coursework run through. Usually mock exams are marked by your teachers and not sent off to the board, they are really just for yours and your teachers use to gage where you are.

Hope this answers all your questions! Good luck I’m sure you will smash them ❤️

natalie_b

I will add that you should check out all your questions with a teacher, just to make sure. As things can vary from school to school!

Dancer

Thank you so much for that. One of the subjects I do has no exams, one of the subjects that I do has an exam component at the end and one of the subjects has an exam at the end but the rest of it is coursework.

Dancer

These are the subjects that I do and what would be happening if GCSE exams are going ahead next year.

Sports Leadership: No exams- all coursework
Citizenship: Exams
Spanish: Exams
Photography: No actual exam paper but there is an exam component done over about 12 weeks
Health and Social Care: Exam
Dance: Exam paper and also some videos for exam board
Maths: Exams
English: Exams
Science: Exams

AislingDM

Those are some really awesome subjects @Dancer !!! Particularly dance and photography - I would have loved to have done such rewarding subjects at school (totally agree with everything Natalie said too, mocks are usually just about seeing how you're doing and I am sure things will be okay).

coc0mac

Sounds like a great mix of subjects @Dancer

How are you feeling about the idea of mocks?

LorryTruck

do you start mocks in year 10? im in year 9 now and yeah, know nothing about them

AislingDM

Good question @LorryTruck Yeah so in the UK, usually mock exams do not begin until Year 10 around January time and as said above the purpose is to have a baseline of how you are doing at the time. (Obviously most schools do not expect students to get really high grades because you're only like 4 months into learning GCSE content). Schools are meant to give lots of warning so that you have enough time to revise - that way any worries can be minimised

How have you found any of the exams that you've done this year?

LorryTruck

@AislingDM Thanks for answering.

theyve been ok.